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Gerald Wallace, just promoted to power forward and given a greater share of the team's offense, blasted the team's complacency following Wednesday night's loss to the Bucks. Deron Williams, whose struggles are largely responsible for the Nets' recent problems, sounded off about the team's offense, even though Johnson had imported much of the playbook from Williams' previous employer, the Utah Jazz, expressly to make him more comfortable.

He began the second quarter against the Bucks, in what turns out to have been his final game as coach, with this lineup: TyShawn Taylor, Joe Johnson, Jerry Stackhouse, Reggie Evans and Andray Blatche. It is less a strategy, and more a cry for help.

There really wasn't much else for Avery Johnson to do. The Nets need to hope this is simply a matter of players playing beneath their capabilities. If so, a new coach can allow the Nets to reach the moderately lofty heights they seemed destined to reach back in the heady days of last month; a playoff series, possibly with home court advantage in the first round.